NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya today expressed concern over comparatively less contribution of agriculture in total GDP of the country and called for reforms in the sector to bring second Green Revolution.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya today expressed concern over comparatively less contribution of agriculture in total GDP of the country and called for reforms in the sector to bring second Green Revolution. (Reuters)

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya today expressed concern over comparatively less contribution of agriculture in total GDP of the country and called for reforms in the sector to bring second Green Revolution.

Panagariya was in Gandhinagar to chair a meeting of ‘Task Force on Agriculture Development’, constituted by each of the central and western region states, an official release said.

Panagariya said though 49 per cent of country’s population is associated with agriculture, their contribution is just 15 per cent in the total GDP.

“It is time we give importance to agriculture sector. For the second green revolution, we have to bring reforms in the various avenues of this sector, such as land, farming, seeds, etc,” he was quoted as saying in the release.

The Vice Chairman further added that NITI Aayog believes in equal relationship with states and today’s meeting shows that even Niti Aayog can come to states.

Gujarat Health minister and president of Gujarat Task Force Nitin Patel agreed with Panagariya and suggested that farmers must be given a ‘status’ and this sector should be encouraged in line with industries.

Gujarat Agriculture minister Babubhai Bokhiriya suggested that agriculture sector should be given priority and efforts should be made to see that it gets international finance, it added.

The meeting was attended by the heads of such task force of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Union Territory of Dadara and Nagar Haveli, and Diu and Daman.